With the signing of 31-year-old Brandon Jacobs – who is long past his days of being a feature back – Wilson apparently will be on the field against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, though Coughlin won't guarantee it.

"I can't say any more about David Wilson, except if I watch him in practice, and his technique doesn't improve, I'll let you know. I'll let you know," Coughlin said.

And after all the fuss over Tiki Barber's fumbling problem years ago –fixed by Coughlin – everyone knows Coughlin's ball-carrying technique: high and tight.

"In practice, he's going to have to have the ball in that position all the time, not just when he thinks he's running free and there's nobody around him," Coughlin said. "I want to see the ball in the right spot all the time. And quite frankly, there's nowhere else to go with this. I don't know what else to say to you."

Jacobs, signed Tuesday, wasn't brought back solely to mentor Wilson, Coughlin said. But how quickly Jacobs gets on the field depends upon his conditioning. Jacobs said Tuesday that he could be ready Sunday, but he's been on the street since the end of last season, when the San Francisco 49ers grew tired of his Twitter whining and released him.

Barber told USA TODAY Sports that Wilson's problem is in his hands, not his head.

"It's mechanical," Barber said in an e-mail. "He has to be limit ball exposure before contact, not try to hold on afterward, as happened in his second fumble.

"You have to have an easy methodology to anticipate contact, cover your four points of contact, then go to the ground or keep running."

Barber added: "I did this by holding it high and tight ... always (so that I didn't have to think about bringing it up when contact was coming), and using my off hand to cover and squeeze my ball hand wrist when I sensed danger."